A recording that only exists in one place is a recording you will lose. GPX is how you get it out.
It is a twenty-year-old XML format that every mapping and training platform imports, which makes it the closest thing route data has to a universal currency — and the reason your run is not locked to whatever recorded it.
If you came here for one specific step, skip ahead: getting a GPX into Strava, getting one back out, moving a route to Garmin, or fixing a rejected upload.
Getting the file
Stop a recording in Track Me and the summary has Export GPX. On a phone that saves to Downloads or opens the share sheet; on a desktop it lands in your downloads folder.
There is also Export CSV, which is the same points as a spreadsheet — useful for your own analysis, useless to Strava. Use GPX for uploads.
What is in the file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<gpx version="1.1" creator="GPSTrack" xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1">
<metadata>
<name>Morning ride</name>
<time>2026-07-04T06:12:44.000Z</time>
</metadata>
<trk>
<name>Morning ride</name>
<trkseg>
<trkpt lat="6.927100" lon="79.861200">
<ele>12.4</ele>
<time>2026-07-04T06:12:44.000Z</time>
</trkpt>
<!-- one per fix -->
</trkseg>
</trk>
</gpx>
One <trkpt> per recorded fix, each with a timestamp and — where the receiver
reported one — an elevation. Timestamps are what make this a track rather than
a route: with them the receiving platform can compute pace, splits and moving
time itself. Without them it is a shape on a map.
Note that the file contains every fix, including the ones the distance filter chose not to count. This is deliberate — the export is the raw record, and the receiving platform applies its own filtering. It is also why Strava's distance will differ slightly from the one on the summary screen. Neither is wrong; they are two filters over the same fixes.
Importing a GPX into Strava
Yes, Strava accepts GPX files — but only from a browser. That is the whole reason this feels impossible: the mobile app has no file upload at all, so people hunt through the app for a button that was never there.
- Open strava.com/upload/select in a browser — phone browser is fine
- Choose File, then pick the
.gpx - Set the activity type and name, and save
If you are on a phone and the file picker will not show your Downloads folder, use the Files app to move the GPX somewhere the browser can reach, or email it to yourself and download it again. This is a phone file-management annoyance rather than anything to do with the file.
Strava reads the timestamps and computes its own pace, splits and moving time — which is why the file needs to be a track rather than a bare route, and why the distance may differ slightly from the summary screen.
Exporting a GPX out of Strava
The other direction, which is a different task and catches people out for the same reason: export is web-only too.
- Open the activity on strava.com — your own; you cannot export somebody else's
- Open the ⋯ menu on the activity page
- Export GPX converts whatever was uploaded into a GPX
There is usually also an Export Original, which hands back the file exactly as
it arrived — often a .fit from a watch rather than a GPX. Which one you want
depends on why you are exporting:
- Export GPX for something portable that any platform will read. Converting drops most sensor data — heart rate, cadence, power — so treat it as the route and the timing, not the whole record.
- Export Original to keep everything the recording device captured, at the cost of a format fewer tools open.
Moving a route from Strava to Garmin
Two different things get called "a route", and they land in different places:
A past activity — export the GPX from Strava as above, then import it into Garmin Connect below. It joins your activity history as something you did.
A planned route — Strava's route builder has its own export on the route's own page, separate from the activity export. In Garmin Connect this belongs under Courses, not the activity import: a course is something you intend to do, and only a course can be sent to a watch to navigate. Import a planned route as an activity and you will have a record of a ride that never happened.
If the watch is the destination, get it into Courses and sync — the file itself is the same GPX either way.
Uploading to Garmin Connect
- connect.garmin.com → Import Data (under the cloud icon, top right)
- Drop the file in
Garmin will not overwrite an existing activity that covers the same time window, so if you also had a watch running you will end up with two. Delete the one you do not want afterwards.
Komoot and RideWithGPS
- Komoot: Plan → Import → GPX. Imports as a completed tour when the file has timestamps, and as a planned route when it does not.
- RideWithGPS: Upload → choose file. It distinguishes rides from routes by the same timestamp test.
Turning a track into a reusable route
A GPX with timestamps is a record of something you did. Most planners will also let you convert it into a route to follow again — usually an "Add to routes" or "Use as route" action after importing.
If a platform refuses, it is almost always because the file has too many points for its route limit. Every planner has a simplification tool; run the track through it before converting.
Common problems
"Invalid file" or "No activities found". The download saved as .xml or
.txt. Rename it to .gpx — the content is correct, the extension is what the
uploader checks.
Distance differs from what the summary showed. Expected, see above. Different filters over identical fixes.
Elevation looks wrong. GPS altitude is the noisiest thing a receiver reports and can be tens of metres out. Strava and Garmin both substitute their own elevation model based on your coordinates, which is more accurate than the file and is why the two numbers will not match.
The route has a straight line across part of it. That is a gap where the recording was interrupted — a tunnel, or the screen locking. Track Me marks these rather than interpolating, but once the file reaches another platform it may draw the shortest line between the two ends. See why the screen matters.
The upload is rejected as a duplicate. Another device recorded the same window. That is Garmin and Strava protecting you from double-counting.
Keep the file
Once it is uploaded, keep the GPX anyway. Platforms change their terms, close, or lock exports behind subscriptions; a folder of GPX files is portable in a way an account is not.
This matters more here than with most trackers, for a reason worth stating plainly: Track Me stores recordings in your browser, so clearing site data deletes them. The export is not a nice-to-have, it is the backup.